ISLAMABAD (March 20 2003) : The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) decision to print retail price on imported goods has created problems for the multinational companies, which are unable to print complete retail price on shampoo bottles and other products.
The CBR recently issued Central Excise General Order (CEGO) 1/2003 for business community to print retail price on imported goods from April 1, 2003.
The condition is applicable to all imported consignments on which central excise duty (CED) is charged on the basis of retail price at import stage.
However, non-compliance of the condition would be liable to imposition of ad valorem rate of duty under section 3-4 of Central Excise Act, 1944.
Leading multinational companies have approached the CBR with the viewpoint that printing of retail price simultaneously on all products is not possible and such units have decided to concentrate on one category of goods at one time.
For this purpose, the companies selected shampoo bottles for printing retail of price under CEGO 1/2003.
The companies contacted the shampoo bottles suppliers to print the price line on bottles. It was found that the existing available technology enables them to print only six characters ie “Rs 109” on shampoo bottles.
These companies also provided sample pictures of bottles to indicate how the price would look on the product.
The CBR has accepted the above-mentioned formula given by such companies for printing of consumer price on shampoo bottles.
The CBR has conveyed to all collectors of sales tax and central excise and multinational companies to print cumulative and unit price on the carton having imported goods as well as to make the goods easy for assessment purposes.
